One Hour @ Madgaon

This is not a travelogue, but an experience of being at a Railway station on a rainy midnight.

"Arey!! oh bhagwan thu ney meri woh kho dhek lijiey....(Oh God please have look at my sweet heart)". A lean and tall lady dressed up in a messy churidar and a scarf around her head was talking to God. She was in a world of her own. A little later she was dancing and singing a song "Ek dho theen..." She was completely happy. She was living a life, where there are no woes, no worries and in a wonderland of her own. There was nobody to help to her, but she's happy.

(image courtesy: www.abcgallery.com/S/soutine/soutine34.html)

In between some porters were trying to make fun of her. She responded by saying "arey thu log bhagwan ko kahim dekha hey, nahim tho idhar dekho, merey sath bhagwan hey. Magar thum tho bura log hey, bura logom ko bhagwan dharshan nahim dhetha...." ("Have you people seen God somewhere, if no, then please look here. God is now with me, But you are all bad people, and God will not make himself visible to bad people").

Words of wisdom, even though uttered by a woman who has lost her true senses. Should we sympathize with her or be happy that she will always be happy though there is no one for her and whatever happening in the surroundings does not bother her. No one will ever know why she became like this, she must have been victim of a tragedy, she must have suffered all the woes one should suffer for a life time and hence god decided that henceforth she will always be happy..
This lady was standing in the Madgaon railway station at 11pm in the night, singing and talking to god, and at times responding to people who were trying to make fun of her.
The rain was lashing hard, real hard. The sound of rain was like a background score to the whole scene but it was acting as a catalyst to the Foul smell which was already being aired. Foul smell can sometimes be quiet irritating and it seemed that the worst smell one could ever find in the world was being emitted here, sure to give a gruelling welcome to all those foreign tourists who usually alight here for their visit to Goa.
Four puppies had taken shelter under a trolley. Three of them looked really healthy and were playing happily. Each one of them trying to make the other fall down and bite each other. The fourth one was unhealthy and lean and could not play with the other three. Interestingly the three puppies were not disturbing the poor one. Suddenly a white tall dog came to the scene and all the puppies including the unhealthy one ran towards her. All four of them were fighting each other to taste the warmth of their mother and was feeding on their mother.

The unhealthy one could even drink his mother's milk. He was seen walking back, his mother licking him warmly. Within 5 minutes the mother was seen running away, the 3 puppies tried to chase her, but to no avail. They came back near the trolley and started their game, but this time more vigourously, as if they got a fresh lease of energy. The unhealthy one continued to sleep and its fate seemed to hang in balance. The way the puppies play is quite similar to the way our kids play, and each one of the passersby seems to enjoy there play akin to the ability of human babies to attract attention. The puppies were in a world of there own, enjoying their play, unaware of the hard life ahead. Their mummy will come every 20 minutes or so and feed them.
One railway staff was walking briskly, who was accompanied by atleast 3 to 4 stray dogs all of whom seem quite loyal to this guy. The sight of a number of stray dogs was a frightening scene, but these puppies and the loyal dogs made this fear run away soon.

One man, who was heavily drunk, appeared in the scene enquiring about where the general compartment was. He has to travel till Trivandrum in the general compartment which people normally use for travelling short distances and travelling in such a compartment for over 20 hours requires energy beyond which any alcohol can provide. He was seen describing his family history, where he is working, why he came to Goa, his friends at Goa and a lot of other things without prompting. Meanwhile I was sympathizing about his impending stint in the general compartment along with a small amount of fear on his intention in getting acquainted with completely unknown passengers.
The puppies were still playing around, their mom visiting them in between, the lean tall lady was still giving out words of wisdom and was in the company of god, the drunk "friend" was continuing his story, the porters were sleeping on top of the luggage in the trolley waiting for the train to come, the foul smell was giving the utmost bad company, when an announcement came - "Passengers Kind attention please, No. 6345 Nethravathi express from Kurla to Thiruvananthapuram is expected to arrive shortly at Platform No 1".
Within minutes it was curtains for the 1 hour drama @ Madgaon railway station as I stepped into the comfort of the sleeper coach.